Angry Birds Cupcakes

As you know, I love themed parties.  And it turns out I have a lot of friends whose birthdays are in July.  So, we gathered a bunch of our friends together and threw and Angry Birds themed birthday party!  Why Angry Birds?  Because I love that game.  And I was looking to make decorated cupcakes - I haven't whipped out my decorating tools in a very long time.

These cupcakes were so incredibly easy.  I picked which birds (and pigs!) I wanted to make and dyed my icing accordingly.  I iced my cupcakes and then began applying the details.  My favorite part was the white chocolate discs I bought to use as giant eyes, they really made the cupcakes.  I then went over and around the eyes using a Wilton #3 and #2 tips to apply the details to the eyes, beaks, and feathers.  One piece of advice I can give is that less is really more when it comes to details.  I wanted to keep adding things to my birds and pigs but when you add more details, sometimes the design becomes cluttered as the details run together.  



I think my favorite ones were the pigs.  They're so goofy, I really love the way they came out.  And the best part about these cupcakes was it took me about 20 minutes to decorate them!  If you look closely, I only used two different colored icing for my piping: black for the outlines and a gold color for some of the details and the beaks.  I would highly recommend trying your hand at these cupcakes if you're even considering having an Angry Birds party, you need very little detail to get such a fantastic result!

5 comment(s)

Posted by Ali B at 4:46 PM

Almond Joy Cupcakes

I had another culinary surprise for my mom on her birthday.  My family usually gets ice cream cakes for birthdays, but I had the perfect cake in mind for my mom so I insisted on making something.  My mom's favorite candy has always been Almond Joys so for a few days I have been thinking of how I'd turn this candy bar into a cupcake.

To get uniformed size cupcakes,
use an ice cream scoop

If you remember from my post on mini blueberry tarts (which were such an unexpected hit - thanks for all of the comments!), what I envision in my mind is not always what turns up on the plate.  Almond joys, for those of you that never had one before, have a shredded coconut center, are topped with an almond, and are dunked in chocolate.  I would have loved for this cupcake to lend itself more towards that concept, but I still had about half of a jar of that Nutella toasted almond butter left over and I wanted to use that up.  My mom also preferred a cake that wasn't overloaded with chocolate, so I then worked around that and the almond butter and decided to make a white coconut cake with a coconut buttercream frosting.  Not exactly what I had in mind but with that much coconut I didn't think I could go wrong.

So how do you assemble these cupcakes?  Once the cupcakes have cooled, use a knife to cut a cylindrical-shaped hole in the middle of the cupcake.  The coconut milk gives the cupcakes this beautiful sheen on the top, but it also makes the cupcake crumble a little bit when you try to cut a hole in it.  Therefore, don't drag the knife through the cake when you make a hole but go in and out of the cake with the knife instead.

Take a spoonful of the Nutella almond butter and spoon it into the hole.  Finally, top with the coconut buttercream icing.  I used a Wilton #12 tip to pipe the frosting - hold the bag upright with the tip about just above the cake and squeeze until the frosting comes up over the tip.  Very simple and easy plus I love the light, airy feel it gives the cake - kind of like the coconut filling of an Almond Joy (well, that's what I was going for at least).

When I make these cupcakes again, I will definitely be tweaking with some technical things, like the texture of the frosting and the strength of the coconut flavor, but in all honesty these cupcakes were still delightful.  The coconut frosting was sweet, but not too sweet, and you could definitely taste a subtle hint of coconut milk.  The cake, however, did not have the coconut flavor I was hoping for, so I'll have to experiment with that a little further.  But honestly, that's the best part about experimenting in the kitchen, even if what you make doesn't turn out quite how you wanted it to, if it has butter, sugar, and flour in it, it will probably still come out delicious no matter what, like these cupcakes did.

Almond Joy Cupcakes

Makes about 20 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cake:

- 2 ¼ c flour

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp salt

- ½ c unsalted butter (room temperature)

- ¾ c sugar

- 1 lg egg

- 1 1/3 c coconut milk

For the Nutella almond butter:

- 2 c almonds, raw and unsalted

- 1¼ c Nutella

For the frosting:

- ½ c unsalted butter, room temperature

- ¼ c vegetable shortening

- 3 c + 1 ½ c confectioner's sugar, divided

- 1 tbsp merengue powder

- ¼  tsp salt

- 1/4 c coconut milk

- 1 c sweetened shredded coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F and line 2 12-count cupcake pans with liners.  Line a baking sheet with a non-stick mat or parchment paper.

To make the cake, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.  In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar.  Add in the egg and combine.  Alternate adding half of the dry ingredients, combining, followed by half of the coconut milk and combining.  Repeat. 

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way full and bake in oven for 23 - 28 minutes.  Allow to cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then remove and allow to cool on wire racks.

To make the Nutella almond butter, spread the almonds on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.  Remove and let cool.

Add the roasted almonds one cup at a time to a food processor and process until ground and creamy.  Add the Nutella ½ c at a time and process until creamy.

To make the frosting, combine the vegetable shortening and butter in a bowl and beat until creamy.  Add 3 c of the confectioner’s sugar 1 c at a time and combine completely after each addition.  Add the merengue powder, salt, and coconut milk and combine.  Add the remaining 1 ½ c of confectioner’s sugar and beat until the frosting becomes light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Fold in the shredded coconut.

To assemble the cupcakes, cut a cylindrical-shaped hole out of the middle of the cupcake and fill with a spoonful of the Nutella almond butter.  Top with the coconut frosting and sprinkle with shredded coconut.  

3 comment(s)

Posted by Ali B at 11:56 AM

Butterbeer Cupcakes

The moment you've all been waiting for (maybe) - butterbeer cupcakes!  I have had these cupcakes bookmarked since the first part of the seventh movie debuted in theaters and knew I had to make them for the final movie (sob).  These cupcakes are made with anything that has the word butter in it - butterscotch chips, buttermilk, butter, butter vanilla bakery emulsion (otherwise known as butter flavoring).  The cupcakes are filled with a butterscotch ganache and topped with a butterscotch frosting.  It may sound intimidating, but the cupcakes are definitely not too sweet, and the burst of butterscotch in the middle is amazing.  The whipped butterscotch icing mimics the frothy topping of the butterbeer that I constantly read about in the stories, and the cream soda in the cake gives it an interesting texture.

I used my white cake and buttercream base to make the cupcakes and the frosting, while the rest of the ingredients I incorporated were inspired by a recipe found by a friend.  Again, I used anything with the word "butter" in it, and I guessed the proportions for the ingredients based on the amounts of dry and wet ingredients I already had.

My double boiler, probably used by
the pioneers back when aluminum
pots were in style

The ganache is made in a double boiler, which is just a small pot on top of a simmering pot of water.  Do not let the name fool you - you want the water to be simmering and not boiling or else it'll be so hot that the butterscotch chips will scorch and you'll get clumps in your ganache.  Also make sure to constantly stir with a spoon, not a whisk.  Let cool and funnel into a squeeze bottle - seriously a great investment (even though it's not much of an investment because they're only about a dollar).  I found one at Chef Central.

The other ingredient I found at Chef Central was the vanilla butter bakery emulsion.  I was looking for butter flavoring and this was the closest thing I found.  It worked well, and because it already had vanilla in it I omitted vanilla extract from the recipe.  If you make this recipe with butter flavoring, add in equal parts of that and vanilla extract.

Fill cupcakes until ganache just
comes out of the top of the cupcake

When filling the cupcake pans, use an ice cream scoop to evenly fill your liners.  Make sure the liners are filled about 2/3 of the way.  Once the cupcakes are cooked and completely cooled, insert the tip of the squeeze bottle into the cupcake and fill with ganache until it just comes out of the top of the cake.  The ganache will spread within the cupcake, so feel free to go back once or twice to fill with a few more drops of butterscotch.  I piped the icing onto the cupcakes using a Wilton 1M tip and drizzled them with butterscotch ganache.  You will have lots of butterscotch ganache left over - store it in the fridge because of the heavy cream.  Or stir it into your leftover cream soda, top with whipped cream, and make butterbeer!!  There are better recipes for butterbeer out there, but I was feeling lazy :P

The cake is incredibly moist and delicious.  Not all of the cupcakes had a gooey ganache center because the cupcake was so moist that it absorbed some of the ganache.  These cupcakes could definitely be left in the oven for 25 minutes or more - make sure the tops are a golden brown when you pull them out.  If all of the butterscotch is a little overwhelming (but believe me, it will be worth it), these cupcakes can also be topped with my classic buttercream icing.  Overall, these are delicious and a must have for any Harry Potter viewing party.  Enjoy!

Butterbeer Cupcakes

Ali B original, inspired by Amy Bites (ganache directly taken from source) 

Makes about 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cake:

- 2 c flour

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp salt

- ¾ c (12 tbsp) unsalted butter (room temperature)

- 1/2 c sugar

- 1/2 c dark brown sugar

- 1 lg egg

- 2 tsp butter vanilla bakery emulsion

- 2 tbsp powdered buttermilk + ½ c water*

- ½ c cream soda

For the butterscotch ganache:

- 1 package (11 oz.) butterscotch morsels

- 1 c heavy cream

For the butterscotch icing:

- 1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature

- 1/4 c vegetable shortening

- 1/2 tsp butter vanilla bakery emulsion

- 3 c confectioner's sugar

- 3/4 tbsp merengue powder

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/4 c milk

- 1/4 c butterscotch ganache

- ½ tbsp. water (may need more or less depending on desired consistency)

Directions

Bring water in a double boiler to a simmer and add the butterscotch morsels and heavy cream to the pot or small bowl.  Stir constantly until the morsels have dissolved and there are no chunks left.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature before funneling into a squeeze bottle. 

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a cupcake pan with liners. 

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and powdered buttermilk in a bowl.  Set aside

With a beater, combine butter and sugars and beat until creamy.  Add the egg and butter vanilla bakery emulsion, combine. Add the water called for in the powdered buttermilk (in this case, ½ c ), combine, then add half of the flour mixture and combine. Add in the cream soda, combine, then add the rest of the flour mixture.

Fill liners 2/3 with batter and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick is inserted into the center and comes out clean.  Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

Once cooled, fill with butterscotch ganache.   Insert tip of squeeze bottle into cupcake and fill just until the ganache comes out of the top of the cake.

To make the icing, combine butter and vegetable shortening in a large mixing bowl until creamy.  Add butter vanilla bakery emulsion and salt.

Add the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time and incorporate completely after each addition.  The icing will appear dry after adding all of the sugar.  Add the merengue powder.

Add milk and beat until life and fluffy, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Fold in the butterscotch ganache.  Scoop into piping bag affixed with desired tip and add water as necessary to make the icing easy to pipe.

Note: because of the milk in the icing, the icing should be refrigerated if not being used that day.   

2 comment(s)

Posted by Ali B at 2:05 PM